However, the fact that the truck never made it to the fire did not contribute to the barn being destroyed, officials said. CCFR Chief Tommy Morgan said the barn on Scott Road was past the point of being saved when the truck overturned on Butterworth Road while responding to the blaze. The truck — CCFR’s Pumper 5 unit from its Kirksey station — crashed, in fact, while responding with no lights and sirens, Morgan said.   

“When you drive trucks long enough, this is going to happen eventually,” Morgan said. “Talking to our guy, he was meeting a vehicle (near the intersection Jones Sparkman Road) when he suddenly realized, after moving over a bit, that the pavement was higher than the ground and he fell off the road.”

The “guy” to which Morgan referred was not only a CCFR firefighter, but it was Calloway County Emergency Management Director Bill Call, who has been with CCFR for about three years. Morgan said Call was taken to Murray-Calloway County Hospital for treatment of injuries. He was released shortly before noon.

Also announced was a $284,625 grant for the Bristol Fire Department to purchase a similar boat. The funds were distributed from the Port Security Grant Program, which is overseen by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency.Newport’s boat is named after former Fire Chief William H. Connerton Jr.